Jonas Söderlund

• PhD
• Professor (Full) at BI Norwegian Business School

Temporary organizing might be viewed along two different dimensions. One is the structure dimension, which has been the focus for much research on project management and temporary organization, the other one is the participation dimension, which has been the focus for parts of the literature on career theory. This chapter attempts to integrate thes...

The interaction context between buyer and seller in large projects is often characterised by complexity, and by not being embedded in a long-term buyer-seller relationship. In this chapter we discuss the overall question of how project transactions are regulated in such dyadic relationships. As a basis for reflection we use a case study from which...

Projects play key roles in many modern industries and firms. The management of these economic systems, project management, is continuously developed and considered to be at the core of competitive advantage. Traditional research on project management has, however, paid scant attention to the capabilities needed for firms that depend on projects in...

In times of increasing use of project-based structures, the capability of managing and organising projects becomes critical for competition. Previous research has documented the problems and possibilities of cross-project learning and various mechanisms that organisations can use to stimulate and facilitate learning. Moreover, research on project c...

This paper links the evolution of the firm to the practice of project management based on a longitudinal, in-depth study of Asea Brown Boveri (ABB) over a period of more than fifty years. It is suggested that Asea/ABB is an example of a project-based firm, which, in a neo-Chandlerian vein, exhibits ‘P-form characteristics’. The analysis presented e...

Grand challenges call for innovation and collaboration across sectors. Yet, many cross-sector and multi-stakeholder initiatives often fall short of achieving their intended goals, and creating the expected value. Addressing this issue requires a better understanding of how to develop and design emergent multi-stakeholder programs with actual societ...

Time is at the heart of the theory of temporary organizations yet its implications are not well-developed, as the theory remains wedded to a narrow view of time. Different conceptualizations of time are pursued in isolation or framed as either-or choices, thereby lacking synthesis across the literature. To rectify this problem, we analyze the liter...

Prior research on the governance of project-based organizations has centered on the efficiency problem: on compliance, control, and a concern for doing things right. Less research has addressed the creativity problem: how governance practices spur novel thinking, idea generation, and innovation. We discern four governance archetypes for addressing...

We reflect on AI's implications for management and organization research. Advanced language models like ChatGPT can analyze large datasets and generate human-like text, potentially disrupting academic research and knowledge production. While potentially helpful, the technology evokes concerns about, for example, inaccuracies and accountability, ina...

With the support of the Project Management Institute (PMI), we are excited to launch the PMJ College, a global, cross-journal initiative to nurture future leading academics in project studies. The initiative is important now, as academia struggles to attract and retain talent, yet really needs academics. Society requires good projects and project m...

Prior research has indicated that knowledge integration is essential for succeeding with large-scale transformation (LST) projects. However, research has largely ignored the processual properties of knowledge integration. This article embarks on the notion of knowledge entrainment and demonstrates the criticality of the processual nature of knowled...

This study aims to provide an explanation for the lack of implementation of innovation generated through publicly funded research. While previous scholars have categorized organizational cycles as either virtuous or vicious, cycles of inter-institutional projects can have simultaneous benefits for some organizations while causing drawbacks for othe...

Project management research has evolved over the past five decades and is now a mature disciplinary field investigating phenomena of interest to academics, practitioners and policymakers. Studies of projects and project management practices are theoretically rich and scientifically rigorous. They are practically relevant and impactful when addressi...

This paper analyzes the unfolding of socio-technical transition (STT) using the multi-level perspective (MLP) framework. It relies on an in-depth case study of the “quiet revolution” of numerical weather prediction. The study reveals how key actors targeted the reverse salient of data assimilation and thereby facilitated the transition toward a new...

The organization of complex projects relies more than that of simpler ones on institutions. Neo-institutional theory, not only the most popular branch of institutional theory, but also of organization theory more generally, has for decades emphasized the role of institutions, internal as well as external ones, in organizing processes-and has recent...

The organization of complex projects relies more than that of simpler ones on institutions. Neo-institutional theory, not only the most popular branch of institutional theory, but also of organization theory more generally, has for decades emphasized the role of institutions, internal as well as external ones, in organizing processes – and has rece...

In this special issue, we encouraged project scholars to be bold and construct their voices. We now reflect on the results, which include the bright spots in four areas: project organizing (organizing and collaborating in and between projects), project value (organizing value in and through projects), project citizenship (living in and through proj...

Shifting an organization’s temporal order can be a key mechanism for accomplishing organizational change, but it is also fundamentally problematic: instead of helping an organization accomplish change, it may simply reinforce an already failing course of action. Our current understanding of the roles that temporal shifts play in enabling organizati...

Both project management and international development came of age as scholarly and practice domains in the 20 th century. They share a central concern with organizing work and delivering change. Though international development played a role in defining the project management domain in the 1950s and the 1960s, there has been little cross-fertilizat...

The point of departure of this special issue is that the conversation between the neighboring ( Davies, Manning & Söderlund, 2018 ) schol- arly domains of project management and international development (ID) has been narrow and shallow. This special issue brings together a collection of six papers at the interface between project management and in...

The organization of innovation labor is undergoing major changes in technology-based and engineering-intensive industries worldwide. Those changes reflect fluctuating market demands and increasing task uncertainty, and they are characterized by three related developments: externalization of the workforce, development of new types of employment rela...

Building information modeling (BIM), as a technological artefact, has been acclaimed to have significant effects on construction projects by overcoming the inherent problems such as poor communications. However, little has been empirically verified. This paper investigates the effects of BIM on construction project organizations using social networ...

Institutions are long-term and stabilizing mechanisms of social interaction that provide much of the groundwork for projects as temporary systems. Due to amassed change ambitions in contemporary projects, not least reflected in their increasing complexity, such systems to a greater extent revolve around processes of institutional change. This devel...

Institutions are long-term and stabilizing mechanisms of social interaction that provide much of the groundwork for projects as temporary systems. Due to amassed change ambitions in contemporary projects, not least reflected in their increasing complexity, such systems to a greater extent revolve around processes of institutional change. This devel...

This paper introduces the notion of “temporal boundary spanning” and highlights the key role of project management in resolving temporal tensions among partners participating in interorganizational projects (IOPs). The present study, which is based on data from 93 IOPs undertaken within a major change program, relies on in-depth, semi-structured in...

Large-scale innovative projects (LSIPs) play a central role in arranging for exploratory and strategic opportunity seeking that transcends organizational and disciplinary boundaries. This paper outlines a theory that addresses the two most salient characteristics of such organizations: their extreme task uniqueness and high degree of interdisciplin...

In projects, various kinds of formal and informal institutions are crucial for imprinting and controlling behavior. The interplay and potential conflict between these two types of institutions have attracted increasing scholarly and managerial attention, but conventional institutional analyses are hampered by the lack of effective methodological in...

This paper presents an in-depth and processual case study of a major infrastructural innovation project involving diverse private and public-sector organizations. The case study shows how organizing developed recursively in response to diverging temporal requirements, induced by the temporal institutional complexity facing the project. We introduce...

Technical consulting plays an increasingly important role in developing and transferring knowledge in a wide range of industries and sectors. We present a case study of Swift Tech, a leading Scandinavian technical consulting firm, to identify and assess the importance of knowledge cycling—a knowledge process based on scheduled and recurrent rotatio...

Given the project-based organization’s (PBO) strong focus on autonomy and temporary decentralisation, it faces unique challenges with regard to long-term organisational learning and capability development. To address how PBOs cope with these challenges, we address the role of knowledge governance (KG) mechanisms to foster capability development. Th...

This paper explores liminality, a concept receiving increased attention in management and organization studies and gaining prominence because of its capacity to capture the interstitial and temporary elements of organizing and work. The authors present a systematic review of the literature on liminality, covering 61 published papers, and undertake...

Project organising is a growing field of scholarly inquiry and management practice. In recent years, two important developments have influenced this field: (1) the study and practice of projects have extended their level of analysis from mainly focussing on individual projects to focussing on micro- as well as macro-level concerns around projects;...

Knowledge governance (KG) aims at strategically influencing knowledge processes by implementing governance mechanisms. Little is known about whether, how, or why such strategies differ among firms. We utilize a large-scale empirical study of 20 organizations to develop a typology of KG strategies in project-based organizations; we then explore how...

Purpose In 2006, the “Rethinking Project Management” network called for a paradigm shift in project research, and proposed five research directions. The directions inspired research and marked a milestone in the development of the field. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the past decade and to rejuvenate these research directions. Design/...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review and analyze Albert Hirschman’s landmark book Development Projects Observed, share its insights for managing big projects, discuss its theoretical implications and how it may contribute to the current understanding of project behavior, project management (PM), and in what way it may encourage the rethin...

Att arbeta i projekt är vardag för många i dagens arbetsliv, framför allt i ingenjörstunga utvecklingsorganisationer där verksamheten nästan uteslutande organiseras i projektform. Utveckling och problemlösning sker genom att individer från olika kunskapsområden möts och brottas med problemen tillsammans. Genom integration av olika kunskapsområden u...

Reduced team membership intensity and flux have triggered the emergence of a new cadre of professional workers. In an increasing number of industries, mobile engineers and other types of flexible human resources contribute significantly to team processes and the integration of team members’ knowledge. Little is known about the factors influencing t...

Purpose – This paper aims to present findings from an interpretative study documenting how mobile project workers develop their conceptions of work performed in liminal (in-between) positions. The overall purpose of the paper is to elucidate how people in time-limited and ambiguous work positions develop competences to manage their dynamic work con...

This study reveals how learning and experiences accumulated in temporary projects contribute to capability development and change of strategic orientation in project-based organizations. We argue that capability development in project-based organizations must rest upon an understanding of projects as “capability bridges”, thus contrasting extant li...

The idea of multiple institutional logics currently draws more and more attention as many organizational actors are forced to operate in ever more complex, temporary and vivid collaborations. We draw on findings from a unique case study of a temporary organization that carried the responsibility for the planning and construction of a new super hosp...

In this symposium, senior scholars and executives who have been actively engaged in studying the dynamics of management and organization practices especially strategizing and project managing join forces to account for fresh ways in which such dynamism can be captured through empirical research that reveals processes like practising, idea work and...

Organizations frequently use hierarchical structures to execute complex tasks, like product development projects. The hierarchy protects the project manager from information overload since detailed information is dealt with at the lower, subproject level of the hierarchy. However, not knowing these details could also activate categorical thinking:...

There are major changes currently underway for the organization of human resources in engineering-intensive industries, including a growing externalization of the workforce, novel employment contracts for experts, and the increasing use of hired consultants and contractors to handle increasingly fluctuating market demands and higher task uncertaint...

In recent years, the linkages between project management and organization theory have become stronger. In an attempt to address this development, this paper analyzes the research on temporary and project-based organizing. It especially discusses the development associated with the EGOS sub-themes on project organizing and the potential avenues for...

This study focuses on individuals working under transient and mobile conditions and the specific competences that they develop to deal with such work conditions. The article examines a specific type of knowledge worker, namely, the mobile project worker who is employed by a technical consultancy but who performs work on various client projects toge...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the practices mobile project workers rely upon to deal with their liminal work situation, i.e. awork situation in which they are “in-between” and do not have a clear long-term belonging to any specific organisation or project. Design/methodology/approach – The study employs a qualitative approac...

Despite the inherent dynamics of projects with their salient bracketing in time - start, finish, controlled end-points, and fixed deadlines - surprisingly few empirical studies have addressed and documented the specific nature of project processes. To strengthen the process agenda in research on projects, this paper therefore seeks to contribute wi...

Prior research has paid little attention to the careers and career models of project managers. This is troublesome for at least two reasons. First, project managers are becoming an increasingly important category of managers and today they constitute a major part of many organizations' leadership capability. Second, traditional literature on career...

To this point, project management scholars and historians have carried out surprisingly little research on the landmark projects of our past. This paper argues for the need for delineating Project History as a subject area that ties project management with history. The paper presents the need for more research into this area, the nature and the con...

Purpose The aim of this paper is to conceptualize time as an important dimension of institutions and, more specifically, to develop the analysis of institutions, time, and temporal misfits. The paper explores these matters in the context of an inter‐institutional project where actors, who represent different organizational fields and respond to dif...

Purpose – Knowledge creation is increasingly singled out as an important activity in a wide range of sectors. At the same time, projects are considered to be the loci where much of knowledge creation takes place. The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the current issues within this area and point out a few directions for future research....

In this book ten researchers offer novel perspective on the issue of management control. The book discusses the relationship between strategy and control, control and organizational knowledge, control in project-based organizations, and time and control. The overall idea is to give an account of control in firms where projects and knowledge stand a...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to argue for the need of continuously revisiting and reformulating the contributions of past research. In particular the focus is on project management writings. In addition, the purpose of the paper is to introduce the reader to the special issue on Classics in project management and give an overview of the d...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to review the content and contributions of the book by Sayles and Chandler entitled Managing Large Systems: Organizations for the Future. The paper seeks to uncover the elements of the nature and elements of project organizing presented in the book. Design/methodology/approach The paper presents the main ideas...

This paper discusses the standing of project management in the academy. It does so from the viewpoint of business and management schools. The paper identifies five critical integrative challenges concerning research, how they might be better addressed and perhaps turned into opportunities. The paper builds on recent debates within the area of engag...

There has been a growing interest in the field of strategic management to understand the relationship between the organizational capabilities of firms and (a) the direction of strategies pursued and (b) the impact on competitive performance. Much of this literature has been influenced by the resource-based view of the firm. As indicated in early fo...

Project management is a rapidly expanding subfield of management and organization studies. This paper seeks to make sense of this development and the current state of project management research. It reviews the literature published over the last five decades in 30 leading management and organization journals. In total, 305 articles were included in...

Building on the idea of knowledge integration as a process by which several actors (e.g. individuals) combine their uniquely held knowledge to create new knowledge, this chapter presents a study and analysis of knowledge integration at work. The primary focus is on individuals participating in engineering work in collaboration with engineers with w...

This introduction relates the principal idea behind the book - that knowledge integration is a vital part of the dynamics of the innovation process to previous literature on knowledge integration, with its focus on companies' 'routine' activities. It presents the book's main empirical focus: internationally competing technology-based firms in, for...

This chapter presents an analysis of knowledge integration in projectbased organizations. It conceptualizes the organization of the firm as a function of its capability to solve complex problems through knowledge integration. It is argued that the project-based organizational form (P-form) represents a specific permanent organizational configuratio...

To this point, project management scholars and historians have carried out surprisingly little research on the landmark projects of our past. This paper argues for the need for delineating Project History as a subject area that ties project management with history. The paper presents the need for more research into this area, the nature and the con...

This book presents the latest cutting edge theory on current areas of interest in the field of project management. The chapters are written by leading international scholars from the UK, Europe, and the US. The book shows how projects have become increasingly significant in organizations. The book covers history and current trends. The book present...

Project management is a rapidly expanding subfield of management and organization studies. This paper seeks to make sense of this development and the current state of project management research. It reviews the literature published over the last five decades in 30 leading management and organization journals. In total, 305 articles were included in...

For several decades, management educators have discussed the difficulty of accommodating the competing values of academic rigor and organizational relevance. Only a few articles, however, consider approaches for integrating theory and practice in educational programs for working managers. Building on 15 years of experience in executive education, t...

This paper introduces the idea of the ‘HR quadriad’ as a framework for the analysis of HRM as a collective, configurational, and complementary system of roles and practices. The framework highlights the interplay between HR specialists, line managers, project managers, and project workers in the implementation of HR practices. On the basis of a mul...

Presenting findings from research into Sweden's leading multinationals this book focuses on engineering companies operating in global industries such as pharmaceutical, aerospace, packing systems and automotive. It explores research and practice within the area of HRM focusing on project-based organizations.

Conventional analysis of project organization has paid limited attention to projects in their institutional environment. Such analysis would be particularly relevant and important when dealing with projects in which actors represent different institutional environments. Accordingly, this paper suggests and defines the notion of “inter-institutional...

In many companies today, people spend most of their time working in various types of projects. This book addresses the important question of what this means for the management of human resources at the operational level in the firm. The authors address questions such as: How do first-line managers handle their HR responsibilities when people work i...

Technology-based firms continue to compete primarily on innovation, and one continuously required to present new solutions to an exacting market. As technological complexity and specialization intensifies, firms increasingly need to integrate and co-ordinate knowledge by means of project groups, diversified organizations, inter-organizational partn...